BPLA Committee Report

2017 Ⓒ Boston Patent Law Association

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Volume 48, Issue 4

Rory P. Pheiffer

Nutter

The BPLA committee chairs this term continue to do phenomenal work, as they have all year long. We have seen incredible amounts of fresh content and an engaged membership actively participating in planning and attending meetings and seminars throughout the year. Likewise, our

Amicus

committee is active in making sure the BPLA voice has been heard on important issues in intellectual property law.

By the time we convene at the Annual Meeting, our dedicated committee chairs and their committees will have conducted 28 seminars or large events, 22 committee meetings, and 12 case law club meetings. Their efforts have also led to filing four

amicus

briefs—two each with the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit. That’s 62 programs or meetings plus the four

amicus

briefs! Because of the varied program content, it affords our members many different opportunities to participate and learn.

Of course, the main event of the BPLA calendar year occurred back in May—

the Judges Dinner

where we honored Judge Arthur Gajarsa for his years of services at the Federal Circuit and elsewhere. A number of other events that are quickly becoming additional BPLA signature events also occurred in the past few months:

The Contested Matters committee hosted the second annual
PTAB Summit
, which was expanded to include a morning educational boot camp for members looking to hone their skills in addition to the afternoon panel discussion aimed at members of all experience levels;
The Law School committee hosted the second annual
Making Connections in the Boston IP Community event
, where two panels discussed their experiences across the spectrum of IP careers for students and recent graduates; and
The
Invented Here!
committee hosted its
seventh final program to recognize and celebrate New England-based inventors and inventions
that have made significant contributions to their respective fields.

A wide variety of litigation seminars have also occurred over the past few months, including an

analysis of the PwC Patent Litigation Study program

co-hosted by the Business & Marketplace and Litigation committees, a

discussion about venue in view of

TC Heartland

hosted by the Litigation committee, and the

discussion of “pay-for-delay” type cases

hosted by the Antitrust committee, which featured Judge Young, among other notables in the field. Those involved in

Hatch-Waxman litigations with co-pending PTAB matters likely found the engaging mock trials about such situations

hosted by the Biotechnology committee worthwhile. Still further, the Patent Law and Case Law committees collaborated on an

enlightening discussion about the legal and economic consequences of the new patent exhaustion doctrine

. In addition to planning the PTAB Summit, the Contested Matters committee also hosted a

discussion about post-grant amendments at the USPTO

—a topic that continues to evolve in view of the recent

en banc

decision by the Federal Circuit in

Aqua Products, Inc. v. Matal

. Most recently, President Monica Grewal orchestrated and hosted a fireside/water-view

chat with The Honorable Michelle Lee

, during which attendees received unparalleled insight into the inner-workings of the PTO and challenges the director faces in running the office, and the Business & Marketplace Committee hosted a lunch during which panelists discussed the keys to developing impactful IP for companies.

The seminar focus has extended beyond litigating and prosecuting patents as well. For example, the Computer Law committee presented a

program on open source licenses

, and the Ethics committee put together a

program about the hottest ethics issues affecting patent practitioners

On a separate, but related note, the

Pro Bono

committee recently

hosted a luncheon

to inform and orient those interested in getting involved in the

Patent

Pro Bono

program. Anybody who was unable to attend but is interested in participating in the Patent Pro Bono program should contact

probono@bpla.org

The

Amicus

committee submitted two

amicus

briefs since

the last committee update in the spring newsletter

The first

was in the

Helsinn v. Teva Pharmaceuticals

Federal Circuit case, in which the BPLA advocated for a rehearing

en banc

to provide timely guidance on whether the America Invents Act changed the meaning of “on-sale” under the AIA, which the panel decision left open in its decision.

The second

was in the

Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC

Supreme Court case, in which the BPLA advocated that patents are neither purely private nor purely public rights, and that

Inter Partes

Reviews should be deemed Constitutional.

In the last report, we highlighted that eighteen different committee meetings had occurred. Since May, an additional sixteen were held—six of the

Case Law club variety

, in which members engage in discussions about recent cases, and ten more across our 25 committees, including a

social event with the Medical Devices committee

, a

beer tasting with the Chemical Practice committee

, and both a

seminar about document retention practices

and a

seminar about encouraging innovation

with the In-House committee. The beer tasting even came with an

informative presentation from John Keyes of Sunstein Kahn about beer, which is available to our members

In addition to the beer presentation, other materials from a number of the programs, such as the PTAB Summit, are

available to our members on the BPLA website

(and

in some instances to non-members

). If you were unable to attend a program but are interested in obtaining the materials from that program, and those materials are not yet available on the BPLA website, please contact the committee chairs associated with that program or me. Likewise, to the extent you want to get involved with a committee, please contact the relevant committee chairs and me. As always, you can find out what events are scheduled to occur by visiting our

Community Calendar